The Importance Of Becoming A ‘top Boss’

Being a ‘top boss’ is very important. The literature of the day is strewn with research that highlights how good leadership is fundamental to the success of any business. Author John C Maxwell refers to leadership ability as dictating the heights we will rise to in ‘The Law of the Lid’ and in their book ‘Mastering Leadership’, Anderson and Adams correlate leadership directly to business performance.

So it is obvious that successful leadership is a skillset that all business owners, directors and leaders must master. However, this is often trickier than it sounds as the practice of leadership continues to change at an ever-accelerating pace. This is because people and their expectations have changed. One of the greatest consequences of change in the modern world is choice. We can now choose where we are educated, where we live, what we eat, what we believe, who we pledge our allegiance to and how we lead our lives.

We have a high and instinctive expectation of choice. We will channel hop, tariff swap and switch allegiances in a heartbeat. If we can’t get what we want in one or two mouse clicks then we will take our attention and custom elsewhere.

So, it is the same in the employment scenario. People have a choice – whether to work for you, to work for someone else, or not to work at all. They have that choice and they are used to exercising it. Consequently, if you are not a great leader and your organisation is not a great place to work, you can expect two things. You can expect word to spread and very quickly, you can expect to lose staff when you don’t want to.

If you aren’t the employer of choice you won’t attract the top talent and, if you are not careful, you may even end up employing people who choose to take your wages but are disengaged from the business.

The good news is that effective leadership is something that can be learned. And the practice of leadership is something that can be developed over time and with coaching. No elite athlete or performer ever reached true heights without a coach and I am convinced the same is true for a leader. A coach will help leaders find out what works best for them and will provide honest and candid feedback so that they can develop the necessary skills to adapt to their changing workforce.

Being a good leader is about behaviour rather than knowledge. It’s about performance rather than intellect. Coaching isn’t about the transfer of knowledge; it is about transforming behaviour and as such it is the perfect method to transform a boss into a ‘top boss’.